What do you do for your belly after the baby is born?

[Zana]

Hi,

This is a completly naive and possibly stupid question! But what do you do for your expanded (and deflated) belly after the baby is born? I have seen a velcro band at BRU that is supposed to help hold (push?) everything back into place. Is it true that things tend to get a bit flabby if you dont do something like this? I have no clue!!

Zana

DD 03.27.04

[hez]

Not naive or stupid (you should have heard my questions about my c-section scar!). I had no idea what to expect the first few days and somehow my normally logical brain didn't realize there'd be extra fluid & stuff still hanging around the first little bit.

I let mother nature do her thing, put lotion on when I remembered, and 6 months later it all seems to be back in place-- I do have lots of extra skin. I don't think that's ever going to go away without surgical help, so I'm learning to live with it :) It doesn't seem to be a problem except when I bend over, and then it looks all nice and floppy.

Now, I seem to have inherited my dad's metabolism for the time being, so I'll admit being lucky on that front. After baby #2 or 3 I may look like my mom, who never quite got rid of the extra after my brother. But I don't think anything external will affect how your body bounces or doesn't bounce back...

[cvharris]

Hide it. :)

Seriously, I didn't do anything special to it and it's just about deflated to normal. I do have a little bit of flab, but I attribute that to not having lost those last few pregnancy pounds.

Carolee and Ben (6/14/03)

[deborah_r]

The velcro band sounds like yet another way to scam desperate new moms out of money - I can't imagine it would really do anything, except act as a girdle. In the hospital they will show you how to do little massages to encourage your uterus to shrink back up and the rest is just time, and if you really want to get rid of all of it, exercises like sit-ups (not in the beginning of course, maybe after 6 weeks, check with doctor) - I'm guessing on the sit-ups since I've yet to do any since giving birth!

Edited to add: Just wanted to say also, it's not a stupid question. there are so many products out there and I remember looking at stuff and thinking "My God, I need THAT? What does it even do?" This is a great place to ask about stuff - I was too embarassed to ask questions here before my baby was born because I felt stupid for not knowing this stuff! So I think it's great that you are asking!

[JenCA]

I agree about the velcro band. Your belly is going to be...well, jelly-ish for awhile after giving birth. It just takes time (and lots of crunches, after getting the OK for your OB at your 6 week checkup!) for you belly to return to a less jelly-like state.

[houseof3boys]

Don't waste your money on a band like that! Yes, things are a bit soft around the mid section for a while but that's a rite of passage to being a mommy. :)

Don't worry you can do crunches in the many months to come. The priority of having rock hard abs (as if all of us have these) fades away when you have a beautiful baby in your arms. I thought I would have had my stomach back by now and there are just more imortant things in life for me right now to care enough to do crunches.

[Zana]

Thank you all for your advice. I think I'm in a last minute panic phase! With about ~2 more weeks to go I tend to occasionally worry that there is some horribly important thing out there that I dont know/am not prepared for!!

[Elilly]

I had a c-section and they gave me velco band called an abdominal binder to wear for the first few weeks. I don't know that it was to push everything back in place, but it sure did help.

[tarahsolazy]

I'm getting used to my new, deflated stomach, its so jelly-like. But, since its not hard like when I was pregnant, I'm enjoying increased mobility and flexibility. I still look about 6 months pregnant, I'd say, at this point. But it really doesn't bother me in any way, so I can't imagine needing a binder. I did have a C/S, but even that area feels pretty ok at this point.